Rob Edwards

Why the dash for onshore gas must end

Sunday Herald editorial, 25 January 2015

There has always been a touch of cognitive dissonance, when climate chaos is threatening, over the opening up of new fossil fuel frontiers.

Exploiting more of the earth's carbon resources when we know that to stay safe most of them will have to stay in the ground has never looked smart.

That is why this weekend's moves by the SNP and Labour to ban onshore gas developments - at least for a while - are to be welcomed. Crucially, as both parties made clear yesterday, the bans encompass coalbed methane as well as fracking for shale gas.

There are live proposals to mine coalbed methane near Falkirk and in Canonbie, and the prospect of fracking applications around Grangemouth from the chemical company, Ineos. Neither SNP MPs' backing for a UK moratorium of between 18 and 30 months nor Labour's conditional ban if they get elected mean that these plans are dead - but they are dying.

SNP MSP complains to Sturgeon over Ewing’s backing for Buccleuch coal gas plans

from Sunday Herald, 25 January 2015

A bitter behind-the-scenes row between two leading nationalists about exploiting onshore gas has resulted in a complaint to the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, the Sunday Herald can reveal. 

The south Scotland MSP, Joan McAlpine, has privately protested about the behaviour of the Scottish energy minister, Fergus Ewing, after he carpeted her for criticising the Duke of Buccleuch’s plans to mine coalbed methane at Canonbie in Dumfries and Galloway.

Ewing’s undisguised support for developing underground gas was damaging the government’s credibility in communities across Scotland, McAlpine warned Sturgeon. Canonbie residents fear that they have been “sold out” in a “stitch-up” by the minister. 

Opposition politicians have seized on the revelations, with the Greens suggesting that Ewing should be sacked. Ewing, however, has dismissed the criticisms as “without foundation”.

Political pressure on coalbed methane and fracking for shale gas is rising, with proposed moratoriums due to be put to a vote in the House of Commons on Monday. The Scottish government will also soon have to decide whether or not to give the go-ahead to a major application to extract coalbed methane at Airth, between Falkirk and Stirling.

SNP and Labour move to ban fracking and coal gas

from Sunday Herald, 25 January 2015

Plans to exploit onshore gas in Scotland by mining coalbed methane or fracking look doomed after the SNP and Labour both moved to ban them yesterday.

The SNP disclosed that its MPs in Westminster would be voting for a moratorium on both technologies to make sure that no licences are granted before powers are devolved. If agreed, the moratorium could last between 18 and 30 months.

Labour said that if it won the Scottish election in 2016 it would suspend coalbed methane and fracking developments until environmental and health safeguards were in place. Projects would only go ahead if approved by local referendums. 

Neither party is promising to completely rule out developing onshore gas, but both have significantly shifted their positions in response to growing public concern. The moves were welcomed by environmental groups – though they pointed out that the Scottish government still had to make its position clear. 

A major application to extract coalbed methane at Airth, near Falkirk, will soon have to be determined by Scottish ministers, while the Duke of Buccleuch is pursuing a similar development at Canonbie in Dumfries and Galloway. Both are fiercely opposed by local communities.

The failure to regulate underground gas in Canonbie

for Sunday Herald, 25 January 2015

Scotland’s planning and regulatory system has failed to protect the community of Canonbie from the dangers of underground gas exploitation by the Duke of Buccleuch, say residents and campaigners. 

The whole process has been “deeply flawed” and government assurances have turned out to be “meaningless”, they claim. A formal complaint against the planning authority, Dumfries and Galloway Council, is under investigation by the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.

Planning permissions for 18 boreholes and a gas plant to extract coalbed methane around Canonbie were granted by the council in 2009 and 2010, then renewed in 2011 and 2013. This all happened with virtually no public scrutiny, and decisions were taken by officials rather than councillors. 

According to critics, the applications managed to slip under the radar because they were treated as individual small developments, rather than being considered together as a major development. Developers have often been accused of splitting potentially controversial projects into more acceptable bite-sized chunks, a tactic known as “salami-slicing”. 

The applications were made by a gas company working in conjunction with Buccleuch, who owns vast tracts of land in the area. They are keen to exploit what they say is “a significant national resource”, but have not yet begun major works.

Hunterston nuclear reactor closed due to faulty valve

Exclusive, 20 January 2015

One of Scotland's nuclear reactors had to be unexpectedly shut down on Christmas Day because of a faulty valve, its operator has said.

In a letter to stakeholders yesterday, EDF Energy disclosed that reactor number 4 at the Hunterston B nuclear power station in North Ayrshire was taken offline just after 11am on 25 December "after an issue with a pneumatic valve when its air supply line failed".

"We decided to shut down the unit so we could carry out repairs and it was brought back into service on Sunday 28 December 2014 at 17.30," said the station director, Colin Weir.

Hunterston B comprises two nuclear reactors, numbered three and four, which can each provide up to 500 megawatts of electricity to the national grid. It is one of Scotland's two working nuclear power stations, the other being at Torness in East Lothian.

A copy of the letter to stakeholders from EDF Energy on 19 January 2015 is available to download here (229KB pdf).

Occupational nursing: preventing illness, promoting health and reducing absence

from Hesamag, January 2015

Three workers in trouble

At the age of 45 Dipti feels her life is starting to fall apart. She is finding her job as a secretary increasingly difficult because her eyesight is deteriorating. She has type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and is overweight.

John (25) is having trouble coping with his work in a call centre. He is under pressure to meet performance targets, works long hours and gets stressed. He suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder, and is worried that he is going to have to take sick leave while he waits for an appointment for therapy. 

Tracy (32) is worried that her job is disabling her. She has worked in a small bakery for five years and has become allergic to flour dust, which has turned her into an asthmatic, wheezing and short of breath. She is trying to live with her symptoms.

Three workers who face debilitating occupational health problems: three workers who - given the right experience, expertise, and resources - can be helped. In different ways, they all illustrate the vital role that can be played by a UK profession that seems unmatched in most other European countries: occupational heath nursing.

We have lost freedom of information rights, warns watchdog

from The National, 19 January 2015

Freedom of information rights have been seriously eroded over the last ten years because governments have failed to ensure that the law has kept pace with privatisation, Scotland’s information tsar is warning. 

Rosemary Agnew, the Scottish Information Commissioner, criticises ministers for not applying freedom of information (FoI) legislation to housing associations, private prisons and many other organisations that have taken over public services. Powers to extend the law have been “woefully underused”, she says, and hundreds of thousands of people have lost FoI rights as a result.

She is so concerned that she has taken the unusual step of submitting a special report to the Scottish Parliament calling for FoI rights to be immediately reinstated. The report, which is published today, represents a direct challenge to the Scottish government. 

“It is quite simple really,” says Agnew. “If FoI law does not cover the right organisations we stand to lose more than access to information rights: we stand to lose the opportunities it gives all of us to have a say in how Scotland is governed and run on our behalf.”

Exposed: how the whisky and golf industries broke the rules on water

from Sunday Herald, 18 January 2015

Whisky and golf, two industries that help define Scotland around the globe, have been exposed as major environmental offenders by a government watchdog. 

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) has condemned the performance of distilleries and golf courses across the country as “poor” because they have broken the rules by taking more water than permitted. Farmers and other businesses have also come under fire. 

Sepa has further criticised more than 200 operators for failing to say how much water they used. They include more farmers, golf courses and distilleries, as well as Edinburgh Zoo, Scone Palace in Perth and the US property tycoon, Donald Trump.

Sepa regulates the removal of water from streams, rivers, lochs and the ground to protect wildlife, limit pollution and ensure that the precious natural resource is fairly shared. It will take legal enforcement action against businesses that persistently fail to comply, it warns.

When Sepa published its 2013 assessments of the environmental performances of Scottish businesses last November, it kept the names and ratings of 961 water operations secret “for reasons of national security”. But it has now released a list of the assessments to the Sunday Herald in response to a request under freedom of information law.

Alarm over nuclear bomb convoy driving through Glasgow in bad weather

from The National, 13 January 2015

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has been accused of a “callous disregard for public safety” after a big nuclear bomb convoy was tracked driving through Glasgow and across the Erskine Bridge in appalling weather conditions on Sunday night.

The 20-vehicle convoy, including four high-sided heavy-duty weapons carriers, a fire engine, armoured personnel carriers and MoD police guards, arrived at the Royal Naval Armaments Depot at Coulport on Loch Long around 1am on Monday morning.

Though it’s meant to be top secret, it was watched and followed for most of its journey by anti-nuclear campaigners. It left the nuclear weapons factory at Burghfield in Berkshire at 9am on Sunday and used the M4, M40 and M6 to get to Scotland, and was filmed en route.

Between 11.35 and 11.55 on Sunday night the convoy was on the M74 and M8 going through Glasgow. It then crossed the Erskine Bridge despite illuminated warnings of “high winds” on the approach roads.

According to Traffic Scotland, drivers have been urged to use caution on the bridge since 9 January because of poor weather. Other bridges in Scotland have periodically been closed to high-sided vehicles because they could be toppled by strong gusts.

Revealed: the 23 streets across Scotland where it’s dangerous to breath

from Sunday Herald, 11 January 2015

Toxic fumes from vehicle exhausts are breaching legal safety limits on 23 busy streets and endangering the health of people across Scotland, according to the latest government monitoring.

Hazardous concentrations of nitrogen dioxide and tiny particles belched out by cars, lorries and buses have been found in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen, Greenock, Rutherglen, Kilmarnock, East Kilbride, Falkirk, Perth, Crieff and elsewhere in 2014. 

On 11 streets the annual average levels of pollutants have increased between 2013 and 2014. The worst pollution was detected on Hope Street in Glasgow where nitrogen dioxide levels were 62 per cent above the European legal limit meant to have been met five years ago (see table below).

Health experts say the levels are high enough to cause breathing problems, heart attacks and cancer. They attribute more than 2000 deaths a year in Scotland to the pollution, far more than are killed by road accidents, drugs or alcohol. 

Air pollution, they say, has now become a major public health crisis. It is estimated to cost the National Health Service in Scotland up to £2 billion every year.

Pollution fears from new supermarket in Edinburgh

from Sunday Herald, 11 January 2015

The dangerous levels of air pollution endured by hundreds of schoolchildren in a suburb of Edinburgh will be made worse by traffic from a planned new Waitrose supermarket, say local residents.

The up-market retailer is due to submit a planning application later this month for a major new store on St John’s Road in Corstorphine. But official figures show that this is already one of the most badly polluted streets in Scotland. 

The average level of the toxic exhaust gas, nitrogen dioxide, in the air during 2014 was 60 microgrammes per cubic metre. This was five per cent higher than in 2013, 50 per cent higher than the five-year-old legal safety limit and the second highest in Scotland after Hope Street in Glasgow.

Becky Lloyd, a 46-year-old mother of two who lives locally, pointed out that the number of car parking spaces for shops would increase from 15 to 140. “I fail to see how bringing more cars and delivery lorries into the area can possibly be anything other than a nightmare for residents,” she told the Sunday Herald.

Camping curbs in Loch Lomond park condemned by former police chief

from Sunday Herald, 11 January 2015

Plans to extend bylaws curbing camping in the Loch Lomond and Trossachs national park have been savaged as badly crafted, cynical and shameful by a leading former police chief.

The fierce attack by Kevin Findlater, the chief inspector who led the policing of Loch Lomond before he retired in 2013, threatens to undermine the park authority’s bid to ban camping without a permit on loch shores and roadsides across the region. 

He has been backed by high-profile outdoor campaigners, who are demanding that the proposed curbs be abandoned. The park authority, however, says it is “saddened and disappointed” by his surprise intervention.

Bylaws to control camping on the east shore of Loch Lomond were introduced by the park in 2011 despite opposition from walking and mountaineering groups. They were aimed at combating littering and anti-social behaviour by summertime campers from urban areas. 

But now the park wants to extend the bylaws to the west shore of Loch Lomond, the northern end of Loch Long, and half a dozen other lochs and roads around Aberfoyle, Kilmahog, Strathyre, Balquhidder and Lochearnhead. A consultation on the proposals is due to end on Monday (12 January).

Alarm over lifting of safety ban on nuclear submarines

from The National, 07 January 2015

A secret decision by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to end a safety ban preventing nuclear submarines from using two lochs on the west coast of Scotland has sparked alarm amongst local residents, politicians and campaigners. 

The National can reveal that Trident-armed and nuclear-powered submarines have returned to Loch Goil, off Loch Long on the Firth of Clyde, and are now able to return to Loch Ewe, off Poolewe in Wester Ross. Visits to these naval “operational berths” have not been allowed since May 2013. 

The ban was imposed by the MoD’s internal watchdog, the Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator, because a series of safety exercises had exposed flaws in emergency plans meant to protect the public from radiation fall-out in the event of an accident. Nuclear submarines are dubbed “floating Chernobyls” by critics, after the world’s worst nuclear accident in Ukraine in 1986.

But on Monday this week one of the UK’s four Vanguard-class submarines, which carry Trident nuclear weapons and are driven by nuclear reactors, was spotted sailing up Loch Long and into Loch Goil. According to eye-witnesses, it arrived under high security at 1pm, was turned around by tugs and submerged at 6pm.

The submarine resurfaced at 8am on Tuesday, and then left the loch 30 minutes later. It was photographed by a local resident, Katherine Alexander, who lives in a remote house on the east shore of Loch Goil close to the submarine berth and within the MoD’s officially-designated evacuation zone.